A test that everyone is prepared to pass proves almost nothing.
Continuity theatre has familiar signs: the date is known, the scenario matches the playbook, the critical vendor is standing by, the recovery credentials were checked yesterday and the person who built the system leads every step. The report is green because uncertainty was designed out.
1. Choose a real service
Test a service whose absence would matter: principal communications, payroll, travel control, transaction approval, legal records or identity recovery. Define the minimum acceptable outcome and maximum interruption before the exercise begins.
2. Remove one invisible dependency
Make the system owner unavailable. Deny access to the normal messaging channel. Assume the primary identity provider is unreachable. Do not create ten failures; remove the dependency people quietly expect to save them.
3. Keep injects private
Only the exercise controller should know the full sequence. Participants should receive facts as they would in reality: incomplete, changing and sometimes contradictory. The objective is not to trick them. It is to observe how they establish truth.
4. Measure decisions, not activity
- Time to recognise the service was below its minimum state.
- Time to establish incident authority.
- Time to restore the first safe function.
- Number of unplanned people, credentials or vendors required.
- Evidence that recovered authority was valid.
5. Force reconciliation
Bring the primary system back and require the team to merge offline actions, resolve competing records and revoke temporary powers. Many plans end at recovery; real risk continues through return.
6. Record surprises as assets
The most valuable output is the surprise register: dependency, consequence, improvised workaround, owner and removal date. Do not dilute it inside a long narrative report.
Pass condition
A test passes when the institution discovers material weakness early enough to remove it and demonstrates one safe path through the scenario. A test with no surprises should be repeated with less preparation.